Thursday, 15 March 2018

A Harare woman was busted secretly operating a brothel that recruited young girls from the age of 12 at a rented cabin at the Roman Catholic Church in Eastview’s Phase 1. Vimbai Fungisai, 22, appeared in court jointly charged with Tendai Masiya, 45, who was offered one of the girls for his sexual enjoyment. The duo is appearing before Harare regional magistrate Temba Kuwanda facing two counts of rape. One of the pimped out minors’ aunt testified in court yesterday that she discovered that Fungisai was operating a brothel at the Roman Catholic Church after her niece went missing. She found her niece at Fungisai’s rented cabin at the church together with 11 other girls.“I had been searching for my niece and heard that she was staying at the gazebo at Roman Catholic Church. When I arrived there, there were 12 other girls whom I interviewed and revealed that Fungisai was keeping them there for sex with her clients,” the aunt testified in court.“They told me that older men would come around and they would be forced into engaging in sex all at once in one room. Fungisai would entice the children with food and money.

“I then took my niece away and suspected that she had a sexually transmitted infection.“When we went to the doctor, she was diagnosed with an STI and treated and I confronted Fungisai about child prostitution and the brothel because I felt that she had no right to use young girls.”A few weeks later, the minor escaped her aunt’s custody and returned to Fungisai’s brothel. Her aunt followed up on her but she still returned to the place. Prosecutor Valerie Ngoma alleged that sometime in October last year, Masiya went to Fungisai’s residence and asked to have sexual intercourse with the victim but she refused. The court heard that Fungisai and Masiya forcibly tore the child’s underwear and laid her on the blankets before she was raped. It was alleged that after the incident, Masiya gave Fungisai money as payment for the sexual services. The matter was later reported to the police leading to her arrest. Daily News